Matrix composing and line casting machine



Nov. 2, 1937.

c. A. ALBRECHT MATRIX- COMPOSING AND LINE CASTING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet l r S W l I I I l I I I I I I I l I" I I I I. I I I I I I I I I I I I la l l. L F [J Q Filed Aug. '7, 1956 Nov. 2, 1937. c. A. ALBRECHT 2,097,711

MATRIX COMPOSING AND LINE CASTING MACHINE Filed Aug. 7, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 2, 1937 i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MATRIX coivirosmc AND LINE CASTING MACHINE Christian Augustusv Albrecht, Berlin, Germany,

assignor to Mergenthaler Linotype Company, Brooklyn, N. Y., a company of New York Application August '7, 1936, Serial No. 94,752 In Germany May 12,1936

12 Claims. (Cl. 199-50) This invention relates to typographical slug mould disc with the mould and the clamping casting machines. jaws located in front of the latter;

In matrix composing and line casting ma- Figure 2 is a plan of Figure 1; chines, it has already been proposed, when cast- Figure 3 shows separately the means for ad- 5 ing short lines of characters upon a longer slug lusting the ug h s Seen from the front; body, to provide for that portion of the slug Figure 4 is a vertical section through a D which is devoid of characters to be lower than tiOn f e m d d the mould and e Vise the regular height appropriate to the casting frame? mould/so as to obtain sufficient space for mount- Figure 5 shows, on a l r er scale, the bolt for ing printing t For t purpose, t locking the vise to the machine frame, modified already been proposed to make the whole casting for Carrying Out the invention; mould lower, that is, just high enough to cor- Figure 6 is a Section h ugh h mould and respond with the height of the slug portion which the means for adjusting the u e gh in e is devoid of characters, and to increase the position wherein the left-hand vise law closes 1 height of the character-bearing slug portion by the d- Siet, and 5 means of a s eciai intermediate member in- Figure a similar v showing t p s t on serted between the casting mould and the matrix when h mould s c s d by the t-ha d jaw; line, which member, in the case of regular mat- Figures 8, 9 and 10 illustrate Slugs Which can rices correspondingly extends the mould slot, but be produced with the arrangement according to i fin d up b special lugs on t pacers For the invention, for lines of characters centred or 20 quadding out that portion of the slug devoid of as the c ay e quadd d out to the left and characters, special hand spacers in the form of to the t; matrices are therefore needed. On the other In the drawing-5, l is the mould c, wh ch hand, the said method is not practicable when carries, in known ma r e moulds 2. The the slug portion devoid of characters is cast in arrangement d the attachment of the mould 25 the manner heretofore proposed against the vise 0n the mould disc, are as customary, pt t at j the moulds are shallower than demanded by the It has also heretofore been proposed to cast requiredvheight 0f e characters, and the depth the slug portions devoid of characters much lowof the belng Such that blank S ugs y arranging for t m cap t be movame or blank portlons of slugs cast therein will be ,30 relatively to the mould body, and to fasten to only as high as is necessary to Permit P n the vise jaws, a core member adapted to e t plates to be mounted thereon. In front of the the mould when the mould is closed up ag t mould are located two vise jaws 3 and 4 which the said core member and thus reduce the height are adapted o a m th customary ma er, of the slug. Owing to the necessity of having a e t each of the hhe h The movable mould cap, this arrangement is difiicult J are e8 15 customary, rlgldly e u d o to operate, and metal squirts can easily result t Supports and 6 by which they are moved through inadequate closure of the can inwardly and outwardly, but are forwardly and s The present invention p s a very simple backwardly displaceable relatively thereto. In (G40 construction which does not present the disad- Such. displacfiament the Jaws are gmqled studs 40 vantage of having a mould with relatively movor pms 1 whmh are sepured to the v.1Se Jaws able parts but which is still capable of use in i adapted slide g opemhgs combination with automatic quadding or ceng g zggg iz 3 3 1 z g ff z g tering of short lines. For this purpose, according ,through' openings in the Vise jaws 3 and ititfiti itdtii tiuttitiigtfiiti; 8 g; jaws an away rom e suppor s an t he t the vlsejawsi adapted Overlap the and consequently hold them normally in the pospace between the aws in order to form a slot sition in which t are Shown in Figure 2 A M extending the casting slo o h u m ry sliding member In is attached to the left vise 50 p h, While the Slot f the mould beyond the jaw 3, and a sliding member II is attached to inn r f es of th l w W l be Covered pthe right vise jaw 4. These sliding members are One constructional form of the invention is connected to the vise laws by means of screws illustrated in the drawings, wherein:- or in any other preferred manner and take part 1,3 Figure .1 is a front elevation of part of the in the longitudinal movement of the jaws. Cross .55

and 10, so that when appropriate number of such members will appear sections through the sliding members are shown in Figures 6 and 7, which are drawn to a larger scale. That portion of each sliding member which extends along the face of the respective jaw is substantially L-shaped in cross section, Figure 3, having a horizontal portion or shank guided by a horizontal surface on the mould, and a vertical portion or shank located in front of the mould.

The sliding members are the portions thereof which project inwardly between the inner faces of the vise jaws, and the reduced portions are so offset relatively to each other, that when they overlap in the manner shown in Figure 3, a slot l2 will be formed between them, the said slot registering with the mould cap in use. The depth of the vertical shanks of the sliding members In and I I, i. e., the dimension in the direction from the front to rear of the machine, added to the depth of the mould and of the formative cavity on the matrix, gives full type-height to the characters on the slug. As shown in Figure l, the slot I 2 is located in front of themould slot l3, and constitutes therewith a casting slot of so that a matrix held between 3 and 4 in front of the said casting slot will produce characters of the regular type-height.

The two vise jaws 3 and 4, are so controlled in known manner by their supports 5 and 6, that, according to the adjustment of the machine, either centringor quadding out at either end of the line can take place. 7 Thedevices used for this purpose are already'known; they are therefore not represented in the drawings and need not be described here in detail.

For the maximum length of. line for which the mould is used, the jaws 3 and 4 have the position shown in Figure 2, the slot l2 formed by the two sliding members l and I! having its maximum length. In this position full length normal height slugs .can be cast. If a short line is required, and is either centred or quadded to one side or the other, one of the two jaws 3 and 4 will be moved towards theother, or both jaws towards each other. The sliding members l0 and H being fast to the clamping jaws, will thus be taken with them and the slot lZwill bemade correspondingly shorter, and indeed reduced to the length appropriate to the composed line of matrices. It is only at those places where matrices are present in the line that the cross section through the mould and the sliding members will have the appearance represented in Figure 4; on the other hand, at the right, or at the left of the composed matrices, a section through'the mould and sliding as shown in Figures 6 and '7, Figure 6 being a section at the left of the composed line an'd'Figure 7 a section at the right of the composed line. It is evident that here the vertical shank of the sliding member I 0, or H, will cover the casting slot of the mould. The blank portion ofthe slug cast at those places will therefore be reduced in height. The slugs'will thus have the appearance shown in Figures 8, 9

slugs are placed side by'side, a space orspaces for receiving printing plates will be provided.

As customary, the vise frame is locked in its closed position by two "bolts'lfi, which form a bayonet joint with two" recessed bolts M on the machine frame." When the right jaw 4 is in the extreme right position, the sliding member I! would come into: contact with the respective locking bolt'on the machine frame. It is therefore reduced in height at Y necessary, as shown in Figure 5, that the recessed bolt [4 mounted on the machine frame at that side be cranked so as to provide sufficient space for the passage of the sliding members I!) and II. I6 is the vise frame in which are mounted the bolts l and in which are also guided the supports 5 and 6 for the clamping jaws.

The mode of operation of the machine is as follows: The line is composed in the usual manner and then transferred to the first elevator I! (Figure 4). The first elevator descends and thereby brings the line between the two clamping jaws 3 and 4. There is no difiiculty about this because the two sliding members l0 and II on the clamping jaws 3 and 4 are retracted by the springs 9 from the supports 5 and 6. As soon as the line is positioned between the clamping jaws the latter move as is customary towards the line and clamp it between them. After the justification operation has taken place, the metal pot is moved into contact with the mould, and presses the latter against the two sliding members l0 and II which, by the closing of the clamping jaws have themselves been closed up to such an extent that they leave the mould slot free only at those places where character matrices are present, and cover the mould slot elsewhere. When the mould advances towards the line of matrices, it comes into contact with the sliding members I0 and II and presses the latter and the clamping jaws connected therewith forwardly against the action of the springs 9, so as to bring the sliding members into contact with the line of matrices. The casting operation then takes place and results in the production of a slug according to one of the forms shown in Figures 8, 9 and 10, whereupon the mould moves backwards. When the mould moves back the latter will first take with it the cast slug and the sliding members l0 and H as well as the clamping jaws 3, 4, until the movement of the clamping jaws is arrested by the slot 12 between the two sliding members Ill and H. .In this position the cast slug rests at one side of the sliding members I 0 and H and the line of matrices is free on the other side thereof. The mould disc can now be rotated in the usual manner in order to bring the slug into ejecting position, and the first elevator moves upwardly with the line of matrices in order to transfer the latter to the distributing mechanism.

It must be understood that the invention is not limited solely to the constructional form described above, since various modifications thereof become necessary or desirable under different conditions and requirements which have to be fulfilled, without departing'from the scope of the invention.

Having described my invention, I declare that what I claim and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:-

l. A method of forming a typographical slug from a line of matrices presented to a mould slot of sub-normal depth, in which the body of the slug is cast, wherein the effective depth of the slot at the part thereof to which the matrices are presented is increased automatically in accordance with the length of the matrix line.

2. Amethod of, casting a typographical slug from a line of matrices presented to a slotted mould of sub-normal depth, which includes the step of automatically increasing the effective depth of the slot at the part thereof to which the matrices are presented, and simultaneously covering and closing the remainder of the mould slot.

3. A typographical slug casting machine comprising a mould embodying a mould slot of subnormal depth, jaws adapted to clamp a line of matrices for presentation to the mould, and movable means positioned between the jaws and the mould adapted to cover the mould slot over those portions not confronted by matrices, and to provide a slot of increased depth over the length in front of the matrices.

4. A typographical slug casting machine comprising a mould embodying a mould slot of subnormal depth, jaws adapted to clamp a line of matrices for presentation to the mould, and means positioned between the jaws and the mould and movable with the jaws to cover the mould slot over those portions not confronted by matrices and to provide a slot of increased depth over the length in front of the matrices.

5. A typographical slug casting machine comprising a mould embodying a mould slot of subnormal depth, jaws adapted to clamp a line of matrices for presentation to the mould, and members secured to said jaws and extending between the jaws and the mould, adapted to close the slot over portions not confronted by matrices and to provide a slot of increased depth over the length in front of the matrices.

6. A typographical slug casting machine comprising a mould embodying a mould slot of subadapted to clamp a line of matrices for presentation to the mould, an L-shaped member on each jaw, between the jaw and the mould, extending towards the other jaw, said L-shaped members overlapping one another so that a slot of constant width is provided by the L-shaped members between the jaws, and the length of this slot, is varied as said jaws close on the matrix line.

'1. A typographical slug casting machine according to claim 6, wherein said L-shaped members close the mould slot over those parts adjacent to the jaw faces and provide an additional depth of slot in front of the matrices.

8. A typographical slug casting machine according to claim 5, wherein the jaws upon which said members are movably secured, are movable towards and away from the mould, and are spring urged towards the mould against limiting stops.

9. In a typographical slug casting machine a casting slot formed by a normal length mould slot of low depth, built out depthwise by an auxiliary slot, in register therewith, of substantially the same length as the matrix line, said auxiliary slot being formed by members on the matrix clamping jaws, which also cover and close the low depth mould slot where it is not con- I fronted by matrices.

10. In or for a typographical slug casting machine, a mould comprising a slotted main body part and a slotted auxiliary face part, the two said parts being arranged to register with each other and to provide a mould slot of full depth, said auxiliary face part being made up of members which are movable relatively to each other and to the main body part to vary the length of the auxiliary mould slot with reference to the main mould slot.

'11. In or for a typographical slug casting machine, a mould comprising a slotted main body part and a slotted auxiliary face part, the two said parts being arranged to register with each other and to provide a mould slot of full depth, said auxiliary face part being made up of members which are movable relatively to each other and to the main body part to vary the length of the auxiliary mould slot with reference to the main mould slot, and each of said members constituting a side and end wall of the auxiliary mould slot.

12. In a typographical slug casting machine, the combination of a mould comprising a slotted main body part and a slotted auxiliary face part, the two said parts being arranged to register with each other and to provide a mould slot of full depth, and a pair of matrix line clamping jaws movable toward and from each other to accommodate matrix lines of different lengths, said auxiliary mould part being made up of members movable with the clamping jaws to vary the length of the auxiliary mould slot with reference to the main mould slot in accordance with the length of the matrix line.

CHRISTIAN AUGUSTUS ALBRECHT. 

